Zynga Teams Up With Frito-Lay

Hopefully those virtual crops you've been building up in Farmville are ready to be turned into partially hydrogenated soybean oil, because snack food giant Frito-Lay is about to invade your land. Okay, so the promotion won't be that obtrusive, but the two companies are set to roll out a massive promotional campaign.

Beginning today, grocery stores will become packed with bags of chips and snack food that give customers special promotion codes that can be redeemed in Farmville, Castleville, and Cityville. These codes will unlock items like "Funyuns" or "Nacho Garden" – we'll leave it up to you to guess which products result in each item.

Walmart is also getting in on the action, and has agreed to position Zynga gift cards in the snack asile right next to the specially marked bags of snacks. So in addition to picking up a back of Doritos, Zynga, Frito-Lay, and Walmart all want to plunk down $15 – $25 to grow your virtual farm, castle or city as well. "This promotion between Zynga, Frito-Lay and Walmart is a fantastic example of how brands can work together to bridge the online and offline worlds, all for the benefit of the consumer," said Zynga's chief marketing officer in a statement.

[via VentureBeat]